Carrie Johnson Ely

Carrie Johnson Ely

ELY, JOHNSON; 4Laura, 3Lauretta, 2Laura, 1Carrie

Posted By: Laura Evans Schnabel
Date: 9/18/2005 at 11:53:31

Webster City Daily Freeman Journal; 1935

MRS. ELY, 94, DIES AT HOME IN THIS CITY

Local Pioneer Saw Abraham Lincoln in Illinois in 1860.

FUNERAL TOMORROW

Came to Webster City in 1865 and Resided here since.

Mrs. Carrie Ely, 94, pioneer Hamilton county resident who saw Abraham Lincoln in Illinois in 1860 and who remembered his face as "the kindest I ever saw," died at her home, 919 Second street, early yesterday morning.

She had been bedfast for the past 21 months. Death was caused by a general breakdown.

Funeral Tomorrow
Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 4 o'clock at Foster funeral home with Dr. Effie McCollum Jones, Universalist pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Graceland cemetery.

Mrs. Ely is survivied by three children: George E. Ely and Miss Atta Ely, of Webster City, and Mrs. Geroge Lewis, of Eagle Grove. Five grandchildren, Warren, Charles, Carrie Frances, Lauretta and Margretta Callery, had lived with her since the death of their mother in 1918. There are ten other grandchildren and four brothers: James Johnson, of Blue Earth, Minn.; J.P. Johnson, of Webster City; Fred Johnson, of Ralston, and C.A. Johnson, of Plano, Ill.

Her Husband,George Ely, died 24 years ago, and seven children also preceded her in death.

The Ely family is widely known in Hamilton county due to their long residence here and the prominent part the family has always taken in the upbuilding of the county. Mrs. Ely was alert and fairly active until her last illness. Although she kept close to home she had many friends who called on her and loved to hear her remininsce about her early life and the time she saw Lincoln.

"Gunda's Coffee Pot" an article appearing in a 1932 issue of the Palimpsest, and written by Miss Bessie Lyon of this city,is a complete account of Mrs. Ely's life from the time her mother, father, brothers and sisters came to this country from Norway, until the Ely family immigrated to Iowa, locating in Hamilton county in 1865.

Post Script: This is from a lenghty obit. in the Freeman Journal. It is known by members of the present family that the Johnsons came from Sweden and it is documented in census records from that time. Laura Schnabel